Birthday: The Most Precious Gift of All
by theWanderingANBU
Summary: On this day...it was meant to be an ordinary day. However, when the day is celebrated...he receives the gift that becomes the most precious of all to him...slight S x A


**Here's my first ever attempt at a one-shot, hopefully it works. Originally, I was trying to post this on my birthday, but I fall a day short. The show I was in ended to late, and since I ate dinner late, I can't sleep. So here it is, finished, possibly rushed but I can work on it more later to make it better. It was more to see if I could write a long chapter than the norm or if I could write a one-shot...**

**I also tried to keep them in character, and it didn't turn out in the ending like I thought I would, but I still think it's a satisfactory ending to it. Maybe they've got some OOC going on, but hopefully they still seem like the characters you've come to know from this series...**

**If you like it, please let me know. Even if you don't, I wouldn't mind you telling me so. I want to know your input, it's important to me as a writer. And if you like this enough, I might put up a part two to it. **

**So as I say, on with the story and I hope you like it! **

**-theWanderingANBU**

* * *

_Even if she had died and left him in this world, the remnants of the past only allowed him to find happiness…_

_Still, the most precious gift of all was received on this day for him..._

Birthday

It was a quiet morning in Tokyo-3 as the sun began to steadily rise up into the sky. Everyone was sound asleep, able to get that full night sleep that could be guaranteed now that they had their saviors protecting them from death; everyone slept well in their beds, cozy and comfortable and awaiting the alarm to go off. It was a gigantic metropolitan meant to go through this day. Nothing was meant to be put on this day, it was never meant to be special because to everyone it was just a typical day. Rather, it was a typical Saturday that would go by as a day where people could relax and enjoy themselves for two days without work. It was supposed to be the start of what people considered the rest of their "normal" lives.

That wasn't the case for one named Shinji Ikari, because even if it was a promising Saturday he would still have a lot to do. For one, the usual synch tests that happen every week would happen, then the usual Asuka bashing and teasing about being the number one pilot and so on. He never considered that it was going to be a great day, but rather one of the ones where he simply wished would just vanish and disappear. He didn't want this day to come, but sadly every day must come or else time would be messed up, and life could never be messed up.

Unfortunately, his last night hopes had been cast aside when his alarm clock rang at seven o' clock in the morning. With a sigh, he got up from his bed, rubbing his eyes and still feeling the pain of yesterday. Even the bruise on his side of his ribs didn't help him to day. He even remembers what happened three days ago, every excruciating detail.

**Three Days Ago**

The bell rang to signal the end of class, and Shinji just stared out into space. Class wasn't interesting, it would never be interesting with the way it's taught. Shinji could never pay attention in the class only because it never told the truth, it only told the lie that was given to the teachers. It was the typical Second Impact and what had truly happened in that cataclysmic event. How a meteor crashed into the South Pole of the Earth and wiped out half of humanity. Too bad no one would ever know the truth, SEELE and NERV hid it all too well. Even the Japanese Government was covering it up, not allowing people to know the truth.

However, when that bell rang, Shinji felt his blood run cold. He realized that he had forgotten something that would only cause hell to rise up from the very thing that he only wished to contain. A nervous gulp ran through his throat while he sat frozen in place, hoping that in some way that God or anything would help him right now at this moment. The most crucial key to surviving a day he had forgotten, and he dreaded that very moment when it would cause hell and devastation.

"Hey Shin-man, let's go eat lunch!" said Touji with a pat on the back, trying to get Shinji to move. However, he stopped in his tracks when he realized that Shinji wasn't where he should've been at in those typical few steps. He looked back and saw Shinji sitting there, a light tremble taking control of his body.

"Shinji, what's wrong?" Touji asked, walking back to the desk and seeing a scared Shinji sitting there. Shinji had somehow moved, pulling his backpack up and showing the emptiness of it. Touji had realized what was the matter, and he felt sorry for poor Shinji and his sealed fate. What he had forgotten, that was so important for the day to go well was…

He forgot his and Asuka's lunch, and now he could only await the possible beating he was going to get. He watched as Asuka walked up to his desk, but a different aura was around her. She seemed happier, different maybe, but kinder. Ever since they had been getting along the last month or so, Shinji felt like something was becoming different between them. He just hoped that it would at least affect the possible beating he was preparing himself for.

"Hey Third, do you have our lunch for today?" she asked in a polite tone, an innocent sort of tone that made Shinji gulp even more nervously. He couldn't say anything, he was trying to figure out what to say to her to make the situation not turn for the worst. However, she beat him to a response, for he forgot to put down his backpack after showing Touji. When Asuka saw his backpack, her head drooped down to where her face was covered with her hair.

"You forgot our lunches didn't you…" snapped Asuka, her anger starting to come out through her voice. Shinji sat there, wishing that he could push his chair back to get away from Asuka, but alas the chair was apart of the desk.

"Sorry, Asuka…" Shinji said in his meek tone and wimpy way, causing Asuka's anger to rise up from inside.

"How could you forget our lunch! What am I supposed to eat, the school food? Why did you forget? What am I going to do Third Child?" snapped Asuka while she grabbed him by the collar.

"I'm sorry Asuka! I'm sorry!" Shinji kept saying to Asuka while she held him by his collar for a second, the venom of her anger radiating from her eyes.

"Well what am I supposed to do baka? Tell me that!" snapped Asuka, figuring that Shinji would give in to her or do something for her , she always had him under control. Like she had finally began to believe, he was a wimp no matter how much she tried to change him. It had its benefits so she used them to her advantage. Usually this would be the time to do so.

"I don't know Asuka! Figure it out for yourself! I'm not a dog or anything, quit acting like your high and mighty!" snapped Shinji with a hesitation in his voice. As soon as he said that, he felt Asuka's grip weaken, and she let go of him, putting him on the ground.

"What did you say? What did you just say to me?" snapped Asuka with a shocked and confused tone, surprised at the spine Shinji had gained in that second. She was hurt still, but to hear that…a weird twisted way to make her blush had just happened in front of her face.

"I said you need to figure that out. Do I have to do everything for you? You treat me like dirt and I'm tired of it. Haven't I finally earned your respect?" snapped Shinji while he felt courageous, standing up for himself for the first time. He had learned something from the time he had spent with her, and now he decided to put it to use.

"How…dare…you…SAY THAT TO ME!!!" snapped Asuka, and immediately he felt a blow to his side of his ribs, and he flew a few inches. She walked away while he writhed in pain from the blow, blood coming out from his mouth.

He remembered one more thing before blacking out that he had learned another valuable lesson from Asuka; don't ever stand up for yourself, become dirt like you had always been.

**Present Day**

He remembered the look and pang of hurt on her face, the look of rejection that he had caused to etch on her face. The way that Hikari ran out of the room to catch up with Asuka to calm her down and hope that today would only get better. He still remembered the bruising on his side and the ice they placed on it to keep the swelling down, and the cast around his ribs that still snuggled his body.

"I shouldn't of said that…it wasn't right…and now I've caused even more problems…" Shinji told himself in his mind. He sat there, putting the SDAT earphones into his ears. The same track, the same music, the same thing. It only brought the happiest moments into his mind when listening. It always reminded him of one thing that he wished he had left, only to have it been gone for so long.

It reminded him of the warmth his mother had given him, and the happiest memories were of his mother. That was what kept him sane in times like these. The memories he treasured had been his sanctuary, as he slowly felt the EVA was becoming to him. He sat there, frozen for thirty minutes, until he decided to hurry and get up, figuring if he didn't cook breakfast than more hell would commence.

He got up and began cooking, no one else was awake. It was silent and semi dark, with only the kitchen light on. He slowly cooked while feeling far off in his mind for something else, as if something was important about today. However, he slowly shook himself out of it and began cooking, hoping that at least the meal would help for today. He heard a refrigerator door open, and when Shinji took a peak, he saw Pen-pen yawn and stretch.

"Well, at least someone's up…" thought Shinji, until he heard the refrigerator door open and close again. He looked right where Pen-pen was at, only to see no one there, and with a sigh he continued to slowly cook the food.

After preparing it for 30 minutes, he set the food on the table, unsure of what to do next…

**10 Minutes Later**

She woke up with her usual alarm clock in the morning…the smell of fresh food cooked well in the morning. Still, even if she liked this food, the smell, and the promises of a great day, she got up slowly and walked up to the bathroom, brushing her teeth and taking a shower to make sure she got it before Misato. This time, she had finally gotten everything before Misato did, and that usually never happened.

When she opened the door to the shower, she saw Misato standing and waiting to go. Asuka looked back at her cheery and happy, seemingly in a bright mood. Misato just groaned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door as soon as she took steps into the shower.

"I wonder what the baka cooked for breakfast? It smells nice…" thought Asuka to herself, trying to figure out the best way to say good morning to him. She felt like she wanted to be nice to him this time instead of making him pay for humiliating her a few days ago.

"Ohhh Shinji!" called Asuka in her cutesy voice, hoping that she would find him in the kitchen. Instead what she got was a kitchen light on, food on the table, but no one presently there.

"Shinji?" she called out, but no response.

"Third?" Still no response.

"Baka?"

"Where could that dumpkof be?" snapped Asuka to herself, walking around the place in hoping to find him. Shinji was nowhere to be found and so Asuka couldn't be nice to him, and immediately she started throwing a fit.

"Fine, I won't be nice to him, we'll see how he likes it when I…" snapped Asuka while sitting down, and then seeing a note on her plate that surprised her.

_Dear Asuka or Misato,_

_Here's breakfast for you, I'm sorry I had to leave, but there's something I have to take care of, so I'll be back soon, please don't worry about me._

_Shinji_

_P.S.: If this is Asuka, I'm sorry about a few days ago…_

She held the letter and then scoffed, thinking that he was damn right when he said he was sorry about that. She didn't care that he was gone…or at least she didn't think so. I mean, he wasn't as much as you would think he was to her. He was more of…an acquaintance she had tried to get to know…but it all backfired during the incident a few days ago. Since then, she's just stopped talking to him, relying on him for lunch, and so on. The only thing she had relied on him for was for breakfast because at least he knew to cook that.

However, during the few weeks where she allowed herself to try and get close to him and give him a chance to prove he wasn't a wimp. He had proven that, with given time he wasn't as much as a wimp as he seemed to show himself to be. However, after yesterday showed that he could stand up for himself, he just now proved that he indeed was the wimp she saw him to be. Any respect that had been earned during their time together…was completely drained.

"He's so spineless, baka…" thought Asuka to herself, feeling an emotion contrasting what she was supposed to feel. It wasn't something like the usual "I told you so" feeling, but it was something else she hadn't really experienced before. It was something near the time when she saw her mother hanging on the ceiling with a smile on her face, but it had more to it than that. It was supposed to be familiar, but it feels like one she discarded so long ago.

"Hey Asuka, where's Shinji at?" asked Misato with a yawn, going towards the fridge to go get the usual morning Yebisu beer. Asuka just sat there, chewing away while sitting there trying to figure out the emotions that were confusing her. That was, until she was met with a large scream of ecstasy from Misato after chugging down some beer.

"That was good!" snapped Misato in a wide-awaked, cheery tone that Asuka was getting annoyed of little by little.

"Could you keep it down, some of us are actually trying to think here!" snapped Asuka with an annoyed tone, Misato caught on to this and sat down next to her, staring her down.

"What did you say? You were actually thinking for once? Finally, I mean if you were just thinking about yourself, then that doesn't really count…" continued on Misato, taking another chug while Asuka was starting to feel her blood boiling in her veins. It was already starting out to be a bad morning as it was, and Misato was not helping the problem…

"No I was wondering where the idiot went. He's nowhere to be seen and he said he needed to take care of something. It's more like he ran away because of what happened a few days ago." Snapped Asuka with a triumphant smirk, taking another bite out of her breakfast.

"What happened a few days ago? What did you do Asuka?" snapped Misato, taking a bitter bite out of her breakfast. She hated when Asuka had done something, it usually led to this type of problem. Usually it lead to Shinji feeling down, running away, or just staying in his room listening to the S-DAT player he carried around with him.

"He forgot to bring the lunches, and I asked him what I was supposed to do about it. He stood up for himself and said I treat him like dirt, and so I punched him in the ribs and walked off. So, being the idiot he is, he ran away because of that. It's obvious…" stated Asuka with a smug tone. Misato took a bite out of her breakfast with a grumpy look that sent Asuka a different message than 'it figures'.

"Asuka, you probably don't realize that today is an important day to Shinji. In fact none of us knew about it. Hardly anyone does, it's always left untraced…" said Misato, enjoying her food, then slowly taking a drink of her beer.

"What's so important about today? Today is just another day that everyone goes through in life. It's just another part of the routine we call life…" stated Asuka with a smug reply, Misato didn't get agitated with it, but continued on her point.

"Asuka, what Shinji never told us was that today is his birthday."

"Really? It's the Third's birthday, that's great…"

"And the thing he does is go to visit his mother's grave on this day…"

Asuka found it weird that Shinji would go to a graveyard in order to celebrate his birthday, it never made sense to. You have dead people in the ground with poles that are the only things left to prove of the people's existence. Why visit that, and the only way to get the answer was…

"Why does he go there every year? Why didn't he say anything about it? If he wants a birthday party or something, count me out of it…I think it's only a way for him to garner attention…"

"You just proved the reason why he never does, because no one would help him celebrate." Asuka's eyes went in shock, once again feeling that feeling she couldn't describe so well, the words continued to soak in while they spouted out like water, "No one has ever thrown him a birthday. His father works his whole life and only uses people for when they give him something he needs, and the teacher never really cared for him. He had no friends before coming here, and so he's always allowed it to go away, like a setting sun."

"Misato, that was brilliantly said, you should be a poet…" was Asuka's smug reply, now sending Misato to the plane of anger.

"How can you say that? That's evil Asuka, and low." Snapped Misato, with Asuka replying back just as fast.

"I don't care about him! He's not worth anything to me. I hate him, I've never wanted to be his friend, so why should I care about his damn birthday?" snapped Asuka, with each word laced with venom.

"Because he needs someone to give him a great feeling, at least once. Asuka, I haven't seen this side of Shinji as bad as it is and as good. He's been happier when he's been with you and you've been giving him a chance, why don't you allow him one more bit of happiness before you start to hurt him again?" said Misato, letting her fork fall onto her plate, her arms crossed across her chest with anger and hurt.

"Like I said, I don't care about the baka. He's not worth my time, he wasted it! I felt worse around him…"

"You say that because you did enjoy yourself with himself…"

"What're you saying?"

"I'm saying you were happier with him than you've ever been. I've never seen you so happier in my life. At NERV you've been kinder, gentler, though at the same time maintaining your typical attitude. You've gotten better synch ratios and everything's improved. And the saddest thing is you're going to throw it away for pride. Asuka, think about it, or at least get him a gift that comes from the heart this time."

Asuka sat there in silence, allowing all the words to soak in, her mind becoming a sponge to it. Maybe Misato was right, she had felt lighter with Shinji and she felt like she was getting better from it all.

The problem was, she had slowly felt confused from it all. How she felt, how she slowly felt something inside change. It wasn't what she thought though, and she wasn't sure what it was either.

"Asuka, you better do it! It's a command by your commander! I command you to get a gift for Shinji that is thoughtful!" snapped Misasto, causing a reluctant groan from Asuka, who got up and went to get her money from her room. When she came back, she said one more thing before closing the door.

"I hate you Misato!"

"Was that a Synch test in the nude I heard you calling for? Two in one day also? That's crazy!"

"Damn you Misato! I'm going, bye!"

"That's right, bye…"

Misato took another swig of beer, allowing herself to think some more during this time of being alone.

"Maybe this'll help them out to at least understand their own feelings. Whether she likes him or not, or vice-versa, at least this way it gives them time to think."

She looked at the phone in the front room, and after finishing her food she went to make some phone calls. The least she could do was make the party happen, right?

**Cemetery **

He stood there, the wind blowing across his left side. Frozen in time it stood, staring back at him with it's glazed over eyes, not budging an inch or blinking. It stood there staring him in the eye, allowing the memories to sink in once again for him. It hypnotized him and put him in a trance, for even if it didn't move it still enticed the boy to stay there with glazed over eyes too.

In the hot heat of the sun, and the wind to disperse it to even out everywhere, it seemed that there was no escape for Shinji from the heat and exhaustion. He hated the fact that he was born in June, because the heat was the most devastating thing about it. It drove him mad at how it could be hot one day, warm on another, rain on rare occasions, and that it could be a drought, each relating to heat.

"Mother…" was all Shinji could mutter while staring back into its beady eyes. He felt those beady eyes telling him to stay and take comfort in it, and he did. He allowed himself to take its generous warmth, the memories filling back into his mind.

To him, this was how his birthday would be celebrated, because in his mind is the only place where he was felt he was accepted…

Even if she had died and left him in this world, the remnants of the past only allowed him to find happiness…

Because as always Shinji had always lived in the past…

**Eight hours later**

"Remember, if I don't say anything about coming out, then you need to wait a moment and yell surprise okay?" said Misato, the crowd nodding like robots. She gave a big smile in excitement, because everything was going according to plan. He was going to like this no matter what. However, her gloating was cut short…

The door slid open, and Misato feared it was Shinji. She told everyone to hide immediately. Luckily everyone had fast reflexes, because she was able to get them to hide in time.

Misato stood at the side, waiting to see the face of the person. If it was Shinji, she would duck behind the wall and make herself hidden. This had to be a successful mission, otherwise it wouldn't be worth the hassle and she wouldn't feel right about it. Sweat furrowed her brow while it seemed the person at the door was taking an eternity to get into the house. She was on the edge, anticipating her move.

"Get in here dammit, show yourself!" Misato thought to herself, still standing silent and ready, waiting for them to enter in.

Footsteps, light footsteps begun to fall into the home and Misato was screaming with nervousness on the inside. She was being told that it was going to work, that it was Shinji, that everything was going to work according to plan.

However, when she saw the person enter into the house, she fell silent and was agitated that she anticipated it to be Shinji.

"I'm home!" shouted Asuka, taking off her shoes while Misato walked up to her and looked at Asuka. She seemed to have no gift at all for him, and most of all, she figured it would have taken her a shorter time to get a gift. Misato was ready to scold Asuka for taking so long.

"What took you so long?" snapped Misato while Asuka gave her an innocent little look.

"I just had to get something that's all, and don't worry I got what you told me to get!"

"That's great, I mean where is it?"

"I don't want to show you, it's a surprise!"

"Let me see it!"

" No, I won't let you…"

"Let me see it –" immediately Misato was cut off by the one thing she forgot to say to the people.

In a loud cheer, everyone yelled "Surprise!". However, when they all took a look and saw it was Asuka, they all got angry at Misato, each of them sending a death glare towards her direction.

"Sorry about that everyone…" said Misato with her usual sorry look, the type that if you were a guy you would fall for easily.

"What's all of this?" said another voice from the doorway. Misato instantly recognized that voice, and immediately she felt her face turn pale. Even though she knew who it was, Misato looked towards the door, and saw that it was Shinji. She immediately felt gloom punch her in the gut. She had failed her mission, she had no right to be a commanding officer.

"Uh…surprise! Happy Birthday!" shouted everyone once again. Shinji stood there shocked, because how could they know about his birthday? And why were they celebrating it for him?

"Misato, what's this? How'd you guys find out?" asked Shinji, shocked and tensed up. Misato saw this, and tried to respond in a way that wouldn't freak him out.

"Shinji, we found out through records at NERV that it's your birthday and so I decided that you should celebrate it!" said Misato with a cheery tone.

"Yeah, and besides Shin-man, we're your friends!" said Touji with a bright smile.

"Yeah, and we always look out for our friends, not just because he's an EVA pilot!" said Kensuke with a smile and grin, "You can trust us when we say that you're definitely one of our best friends!"

Shinji stood there frozen, a small smile starting to form into a bigger one. For once he felt accepted by others, and that he had more to live for than EVA. He was happy, now that he had found friends that accepted him for who he was, and that they were willing to do this. He felt tears fall down his face, and for once he realized he felt…happy.

"Thank you, Misato! Everyone thank you!" said Shinji with a more elated tone, some tears slowly falling down his face.

"Yeah yeah, quit being a wimp about it to, sheesh." Snapped Asuka, while Shinji ignored it in his temporary bliss in this moment. He wouldn't allow Asuka to ruin it, it was a moment too precious to him for it to be ruined by Asuka. She felt another emotion she had never felt before welt up inside her, and with a large "humph!" she walked away.

"Oh and I'm sorry I ruined your surprise Misato…" said Shinji, causing Misato to sigh deeply. He had just reverted back to his old self…typical for Shinji right.

"Who cares, let's get this party going! After all, it only comes once a year!" said Misato, leading Shinji into the party that awaited him.

During the party, they had played many games. They talked and laughed about school life or just life in general. They gossiped about people, and just enjoyed themselves and relaxed.

Hours past, until the sun was almost setting, and Misato then figured it was perfect to open gifts. After all, a party didn't normally last as long as this one did, but still she let it go because she could see he was enjoying more and he was happier than she'd ever seen him before.

"Ritsuko might get on me for allowing them to miss the synch tests, but he needed this more…" Misato said to herself under her breath slowly taking a walk towards the area with a plastered smile on her face, "All right, it's time to open gifts Shinji!"

He opened gifts slowly, each one seeming to be precious.

Touji had given him a gift of boxing gloves, joking about the time he got punched in the face by Shinji.

"With force like that, you should definitely be a boxer as a profession." He exclaimed, causing a burst of laughter to emanate through the room.

Kensuke had gotten him a replica of the ship they had met Asuka on, saying that "It was one of the most beautiful ships he had ever seen, and that Shinji should get it for memories sake."

From there on, he received some new white button up shirts, some money to spend in case Asuka and Misato went on a rampage or something, and much more.

However, the one gift he wanted to open the gift the most was the one being handed to him now; it was the gift from Asuka.

"Here Shinji…I thought…you…might like this…" Asuka stammered a light blush growing across her face. Shinji took it from her and slowly brought it to himself, looking at it with marvel and excitement. He slowly began to open it, and inside was something he would never have expected.

It was a new SDAT player, the newest type too. Although there were better listening systems out there, they still made SDATs since they were still semi-popular. Producers and companies still found that this form of listening to music was better than the advanced, because at least people would pay legitimate money for music.

However, what was more important was how Shinji eyed in marvel the new SDAT player and what fell from the back of it back into the box. He found the note in the box and immediately picked it up, and his eyes grew big in shock.

"Whatever you do don't read it out loud. If you do, you'll never make it past fifteen…" snapped Asuka with a crackle of her knuckles, Shinji nodding yes as soon as he saw the threat from her.

"T-Thank you Asuka, it's really nice…" said Shinji with a smile and a light blush, saying all of this in a meek tone. Asuka gave him a little smile only he could detect, and then looked towards somewhere else.

Thirty more minutes consumed the party after that, and everyone had fun with the party. However, a drunk Misato wasn't something anyone wanted to deal with, and so everyone left. They all said their "Thank You" and "Goodbyes" while walking out as fast as they can. As soon as the last person left, Misato had passed out onto the couch in the living room. While Shinji looked at the SDAT player he got for his birthday, and the note he received, he was shaken out of his daze by Misato's plop onto the couch. What really got him worried what that he didn't see Asuka around, and he wondered where she was.

He looked around everywhere, until it seemed she was nowhere to be found. He felt confused and scared, wondering where she was. He wanted to talk to her, at least say a better thank you than he had. With the card still in his hand, he looked at it right away and saw that it had another message to it:

_Meet me at the veranda/back porch when the guests leave…_

He looked towards where the veranda was, and saw the door was open. Immediately he went to the door, and saw Asuka standing there staring out into the horizon. While staring at her, he felt a blush creep onto his face. She was cute in the warm bask of the evening glow. Immediately he fell into a daze and was lost…

Until he shook himself out of it and felt himself moving towards Asuka. He kept walking towards her, his eyes fixated on her, while he realized that she too was staring back at him with a smile.

"So you came…Shinji…I'm glad…." Since when did that come from Asuka? He felt that he was dreaming and pinched himself hard. He felt pain, and breath a sigh of relief from it.

"Am I dreaming here? Or did you just actually say my name and "you're glad"?"

"Hey I'm trying to be nice here Third! Is there a problem with that?" snapped Asuka with an agitation to her voice. Shinji gulped and apologized quickly, and then with a fast reaction awaited a blow to the head. However, none came, and instead of a smack he saw another smile on Asuka's face.

"I wanted to know…did you enjoy the gift I got you…because if you don't I can trade it…but then don't expect me to get you another gift again. Plus, I would then completely hate you and you wouldn't want that…" so much for trading the gift if it didn't work huh? Shinji didn't care much, he was content with the gift and was happier than ever because of it. It felt different from the other gifts…it had something more to it. It was more precious to him and gave him a feeling he too felt confused about.

"No, I actually wanted to say….thank you for the gift…Asuka…" said Shinji with another meek tone, a blush on his face. Asuka tried to hide the blush away from her face and turned around, watching the sunset again.

"I knew you would…you always like that stuff. And did you read the note?"

"Yeah…"

"Then come here so I can give you one last gift…"

"Okay"

Shinji walked over there, trembling while he took each step towards her, fearing what she might do. With Asuka you could never be too careful, she would be quick in her blows to the side, or kick to the balls, or just anything to cause pain.

When he got to where she was standing, he would never expect the next events to occur.

She took his hands and placed them around her waist, while he stood behind her watching the sunset with her. However, she was trembling and feeling nervous at his touch, a blush coming across her face while she felt his trembling in nervousness too.

"Shouldn't you be smacking me for doing this or something?" said Shinji with a confused tone, slowly feeling his hands and arms getting sweaty from benig nervous.

"Anta baka? I want you to do this…because I've realized that I've made a mistake with you…the thing is that my final gift is something I can't give you physically…" she told him, turning around while she allowed his arms to stay around her waist. She looked him into the eyes, and then while trembling, she pulled him into an embrace.

They both stood silent while life continued on. They were frozen in the moment, time standing still and awaiting for his orders to continue. For what was merely a few seconds had felt like an eternity between them. It allowed this unanimous feeling to grown in each other…one that they wanted to figure out what it was.

"Shinji, my final gift I want to offer you is…my friendship. I want you to know that you're my official first guy that's a friend, and that's an accomplishment. Usually, guys are perverted and idiotic. Though sometimes you are like them, I still think that you're a…nice person…and I want to be friends with you. But, if you do anything to hurt me and stuff, then expect hell! Otherwise I may not be able to understand how I feel about you, but for now I want to become your friend. Now, will you become my friend?" she asked him, pulling herself out of the embrace to look him into the eyes.

She could see the message in his eyes, but she still searched anyway. She wanted to confirm it with her eyes, like they confirmed what she said to him moments ago. She was taking a risk in allowing him into her heart this way, but would he do the same thing for her? She wanted it to be, ever since she went to buy him a gift. She realized that she cared more for Shinji than she thought, and in order to understand them she wants to be his friend. It was too complex for her to comprehend, but it was a feeling that said "if you don't want to lose him, then become his friend at least…"

It may have been an instance, or a split second, but she felt herself warm up when she saw the answer in his eyes. It was the confirmation that he would allow her into his heart, but still she wanted to hear it from him.

"Yeah Asuka, I want you to be my friend to." He said, slowly forming a genuine smile while they smiled at each other. They then decided to look back out into the sunset while it painted the city golden. It was the most beautiful sight to them.

Shinji smiled, remembering what the note had said to him that made him feel like he finally precious to someone else:

_Shinji,_

_I may not show this, nor may I be able to fully express this to you. For everything you've done for me… This is something I hope you like, because if you don't you're an idiot. But there's one more thing I have yet to give you, something I want to share with you and only you…_

_-Asuka_

In that moment, and in that day would Shinji's life forever transform. He would find that the day had become what he had wanted, it had become the day where he stepped out of the past and into the future. It was the d ay where he slowly found himself opening to others in spite of the risk of rejection. Most of all, he received the most precious gift to him ever. It wasn't the Money, the gloves, the replica, even if they were precious to him. Not even the SDAT was the most precious gift to him…

The most precious gift that him to finally feel that he's there for another purpose in life…

He received Asuka's friendship, and that's all that mattered to him now…


End file.
